NEW YORK – Isiah Thomas will finish the season as the Knicks’ coach, but needs a good explanation for why things went so horribly wrong for any chance to last beyond that.

New president Donnie Walsh said Wednesday he plans to meet soon with Thomas, and he wants to know why a team he thought could be good instead will finish as perhaps the worst in franchise history.

Walsh insists he hasn’t decided on Thomas’ future with the team, but the Knicks’ 23-56 record clearly works against the coach.

“You can say I have an open mind as far as any conversation I’m going to have,” Walsh said. “I still don’t think we’ve played well, there’s a lot of things I want to talk about. So it’s not totally open. It’s not like I’m going in saying, `Well, this has all been great, so what do you want to talk about?”‘

Walsh said he expects their conversation to happen before the regular season ends next week. But no matter what he decides, he expects Thomas to be on the bench for the remaining games.

“Yeah, I would say that we’re going to go through the season because there’s only four games left,” Walsh said, “and I’m going to use this period to try to take a look at the whole situation so I’m in a position to make whatever decision is going to be made – if there are any.”

Walsh was hired last Wednesday to replace Thomas as team president, and put off any decision about Thomas’ job until after they could meet in person. The Knicks were on a road trip at the time and didn’t return until the weekend.

Walsh had left town by then to clean out his desk in Indiana, where he recently announced he was leaving the Pacers after 24 years in their front office. Walsh didn’t return to New York until Tuesday, and said he still hasn’t even seen Thomas.

That will change soon. Walsh attended New York’s 109-107 victory over the Bobcats, and the Knicks also are home for games Friday and Monday before closing the season at Indiana on April 16.